Research
A fascination with technology, semantics, and linked data has been the through-line of my research career — but the joy has always been in where those tools land. The same techniques that connect government spatial datasets can connect museum collections; the same thinking that structures a knowledge graph can structure how a vision-impaired student reads a mathematics textbook, or how a university teaches programming in the age of AI.
Research interests
- Semantic web and linked data — ontologies, data conflation, provenance, and spatial knowledge infrastructures: making independently built datasets understand each other, from road networks to national land administration.
- Digital cultural heritage — linked open data and 3D/VR experiences for museums and heritage sites, including underwater heritage: photogrammetric reconstruction of shipwreck sites and virtual reality experiences of places most people will never dive.
- Assistive technology — technology that removes barriers for people with disability, across vision, hearing, communication, mobility, and neurodiversity.
- Learning and teaching in higher education — active learning, gamification of software engineering practice, and frameworks for the responsible use of AI by students and academics.
Current projects
Much of my current research happens with and through my research students: human–AI collaboration in programming education, natural-language assessment of student work, underwater virtual heritage experiences and their evaluation, semi-autonomous safety systems for powered wheelchairs, and remote orientation-and-mobility training. My own current focus is the framework-guided use of AI in research and teaching across the university.
Across my career I have generated more than $6.5 million AUD in research funding. The projects below are not a complete record — simply a sample of research conducted and being conducted.
Research projects I am currently part of include:
- Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Underwater Virtual Heritage Experiences
- Empowering adults with hearing loss by increasing informed choice, accessibility, and uptake of hearing healthcare
Past projects
- Australian Cultural Data Engine for Research, Industry and Government
- Translating NARNIA into a long-term therapy approach: The development and trial of a Communication App for people following stroke
- Enhancing capacity of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder to use public transport
- Improving independence in driving for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Ancient Itineraries: The Digital Lives of Art History
- Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) P3.01: Semantic Web Technologies for Next Generation Infrastructures
- CRCSI P3.02: Semantic Web Technologies for Supply Chain Management of Spatial Infrastructures
Collaboration
I collaborate widely — across faculties, institutions, and countries — and am always open to a conversation. Please reach out through my institution's website.